News

In the lead up to the WA State Election, Anglicare WA is advocating for ‘A Fair Life’ through the following four election priorities to encourage ‘A Better WA’ for all: 

Anglicare WA CEO Mark Glasson appeared in the ABC on Sunday advocating for re-use of the Bullsbrook COVID quarantine site to assist with the housing crisis. 

With a growing number of West Australians experiencing housing stress or at risk of homelessness, the 500-bed facility remains virtually unused in Perth’s northern suburbs, which Mr. Glasson deemed “wasteful”. 

Each of the rooms at the unit are fitted with air conditioning, a private ensuite bathroom, television, internet and small kitchen with a microwave and a fridge and could provide shelter for rough sleepers or others without permanent housing. 

Mr. Glasson stated, “We’ve got capacity to hold 500 people in that facility at the moment and it’s empty, and that’s a really lazy use of that resource when we’re in the middle of a housing crisis. 

“I’m not promoting at all that we use that facility as a dropping point where we just drop everyone who has homelessness issues and we leave them there…but there’s a resource there that if we used imagination and innovation, we could deliver something really special for people who are doing it really tough right now.” 

That is why Anglicare WA is calling for more safe, secure, and affordable housing through the following solutions: 

• Short-term: extend Rent Relief as a successful crisis intervention to keep people where they’re currently housed and reduce the risk of homelessness 

• Medium-term: ensure minimum standards in rental properties so homes area healthy and energy efficient, reducing utilities, bills, and other housing costs 

• Long-term:  establish a WA Housing Future Fund to fund new social and affordable housing long-term  

To read the ABC article, click here. 

Election housing announcements 

As Anglicare WA continues to advocate for safe and affordable housing in the lead up to the State election, there have been a number of housing announcements from the major parties this month.  Check out the run down below: 

Labor 

Liberals 

• $940 million to tackle the housing crisis, including transfer of 1,000 new social houses to community housing providers to increase their asset base to find new homes (4 Feb) 

Nationals 

• $10 million to combat homelessness and rough sleeping (5 Feb) 

Greens 

• Commit to social and affordable housing targets, including building, converting or purchasing a minimum of 5,000 every single year ($2.5 billion annually) (5 Feb) 

To learn about Anglicare WA’s housing election priorities, please click here.